1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to modularized storage cards coupled to backplanes and, more particularly, to a card design having plural types of storage drives for use in a network element (e.g., a Next Generation Signaling Transfer Point (STP)) disposed in a Signaling System No. 7 (SS7) network.
2. Description of Related Art
The exponential increase in the number of local telephone lines, mobile subscribers, pages, fax machines, and other data devices, e.g., computers, Information Appliances, etc., coupled with deregulation that is occurring worldwide today is driving demand for small form factor, high capacity STPs which must be easy to maintain, provide full SS7 functionality with so-called xe2x80x9cfive ninesxe2x80x9d operational availability (i.e., 99.999% uptime), and provide the capability to support future functionality or features as the need arises. Further, as subscriber demand for more service options proliferates, an evolution is taking place in the telecommunications industry to integrate Intelligent Network (IN)-capable Service Control Point (SCP) functionality within STP nodes.
While it is generally expected that a single platform that supports large-database, high-transaction IN services as well as high-capacity packet switching (hereinafter referred to as a signaling server platform) will reduce equipment costs, reduce network facility costs and other associated costs while increasing economic efficiency, those skilled in the art should readily recognize that several difficulties must be overcome in order to integrate the requisite functionalities into a suitable network element that satisfies the stringent performance criteria required of telecommunications equipment. Daunting challenges arise in designing a compact enough form factor that is efficiently scalable, ruggedized, and modularized for easy maintenance, yet must house an extraordinary constellation of complex electronic circuitry, e.g., processors, control components, timing modules, I/O, line interface cards which couple to telephony networks, etc., that is typically required for achieving the necessary network element functionality. Whereas the electronic components may themselves be miniaturized and modularized into cards or boards, interconnecting a large number of such cards via suitable bus systems and controlling such interconnected systems poses many obstacles.
It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the aforementioned concerns are particularly exacerbated when it is required that I/O interfaces to storage devices be configurable such that different storage media may be provided on xe2x80x9cas-neededxe2x80x9d basis using the same interface and form factor associated therewith. Further, when such configurable yet standardized I/O interfaces are also required to support hot-swappability, additional complications arise.
Conventional bus backplane arrangements for supporting I/O interfaces are beset with numerous deficiencies and drawbacks in this regard. In the existing solutions, for example, the bus slot that is to receive a storage I/O card is hardwired to accept only that particular type of storage device and typically will not work with other storage devices without extensive modifications which may include both electrical and mechanical aspects. That is, a bus slot designed for a tape drive card will not accept a disk drive card and vice versa.
Moreover, if it is required for some reason that a storage bus slot be used not for storage cards but for some other functionality, e.g., processing element functionality, the existing backplanes cannot accommodate such requirements. Thus, once a bus slot is formed for a particular purpose and device, there is very little that can be done with the arrangement if future needs require replacement or a change in the use of the slot. Consequently, adaptability of a system having such conventional bus slot arrangements is severely impacted.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed in one aspect to a modularized storage card apparatus that comprises a backplane having a front side and a rear side, wherein the backplane conforms to the Compact Peripheral Component Interconnect (CPCI) bus standard. The front and rear sides are provided with slots that include a CPCI bus connector and a user-defined connector. A rear panel module is coupled to the rear side of the backplane via the CPCI bus and user-defined connectors, wherein the rear panel module is provided with a first input/output (I/O) bus interface and a second I/O bus interface. The first I/O bus interface effectuates a coupling with an I/O bus controller, whereas second I/O bus interface may be coupled to other storage devices or may be terminated. A front panel card is coupled to the front side of the backplane via the CPCI bus and user-defined connectors, wherein the front panel card is provided with at least one storage drive formed thereon. The storage drives may comprise disk drives, tape drives, or a combination, and receive power from the CPCI bus connector. An electrical conductive path between the storage drives and the first I/O bus interface is effectuated via the user-defined connectors of the backplane. In a presently preferred exemplary embodiment of the present invention, Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) devices, e.g., SCSI tape and disk drives, etc., are particularly exemplified.
In another aspect, the present invention relates to a system manager shelf for use in a signaling server disposed in a telecommunications network. The system manager shelf comprises a backplane having a plurality of slots formed on its front and rear sides. A storage card having a first storage drive and a second storage drive formed thereon occupies at least one of the slots on the front side of the backplane. A processor card controlling the storage card occupies another slot on the front side of the backplane. The processor card and the storage card electrically communicate via respective transition modules associated therewith which are disposed on the rear side of the backplane.